Deep Creek Birthday/Going Away Backpack
LyttleBryan August 25th, 2009
This weekend I got the chance to spend a few days in the Deep Creek Area between Cherokee, NC and Bryson City, NC. I’d never been to this area so everything from the drive to campground was new to me. I love exploring new places and I was really excited to spend the time with my very good friends Tim, Maya, Guen, and Adam. Several others had been invited, but do to extraneous circumstances had to back out. The purpose of this particular backpacking trip was two fold. The minor point was that I celebrated my birthday this past Tuesday. Much more importantly my very good friend Maya will be leaving Knoxville next week. She will be pursuing a dream moving to New York City, New York. As much as it thrills me that she’s doing something she’s always wanted to do, I can’t help be feel incredibly sad that I’ll be losing her. Oh well, enough of the sappy stuff. The Google Map below pin points where we picked up the trail head. The trail is directly off the campground which made for easy access.
The trip in Friday afternoon was just Tim, Maya, and I with Guen and Adam joining us later. We were originally going to take Deep Creek Trail directly to number 60, but once we started looking at the signs we decided to take the Deep Creek Horse trail so as to see Juney Wank Falls. the Falls themselves were nothing spectacular, but the trail offered much more than Deep Creek itself. It was a little longer and much more strenuous than Deep Creek. Since the hike was only ~3 miles we had time to stop and enjoy the sights. Deep Creek followed the trail pretty closely and offered some absolutely gorgeous views. We made it to camp around 4 in the afternoon and immediately setup in a very pretty little spot right along the creek. The night went by uneventfully with Mother Nature showing signs of an impending thunderstorm. Around 11 we decided that Adam and Guen must have decided to hike in on Saturday morning so we all retired for the evening. Much to our surprise we heard their voices coming down the trail around quarter to midnight. They had decided to night hike in and got in just before the storms started. Tim and I helped Adam set up his tent and then retired for the evening after a little small talk.
From what I could tell Mother Nature opened up around 12:30 that evening and rained for most of the night. Fortunately for me I was nuzzled up in my Marmot Nyx tent deep inside my Outdoor Research Exped Wall Creeper. It could have been a monsoon outside and I’d have been sleeping like a baby. Love it! We all got up around 8:30 that morning and began preparing for a long day of hiking. Our hike for the day consisted of finishing Deep Creek Trail and then following Martin’s Gap up to Indian Creek. There were quite a few campsites along Deep Creek so we had a wonderful opportunity to scout out some new sites. The trails offered a lot of variety ranging from beautiful views, to horrible gnat infestations. Overall the hike was really great! But by the end of the day though we were all ready to be done. One thing of note was a horrible amount of trash that we found along Martin’s Gap Trail. There was a spot that looked like someone had emptied their trash bag on the trail. The only thing the group could reason was that a critter had made off with someone’s trash bag and ripped it open on that spot. Either way it was more than a little disheartening!
After we got back to the campsite that evening we all took the opportunity for a quick swim in the creek. Once we got over the initial shock of the cold, we enjoyed cooling off and getting some of the grimy hiker funk off. After our swim/bath we all put on fresh clothes and relaxed for a little bit before dinner. Fortunately every single one of us had hammocks to relax in. If there’s one thing to know about me, it’s that I do love my hammock! The nap(s) left everyone refreshed which made us realize how hungry we all were. Fortunately for all of us Guen is COMPLETELY AWESOME and brought a bunch of Fresh Market snacks for us to munch on. I’d never had chocolate covered soy beans before, but now I have and I can say they’re awesome! The rest of the evening passed with little activity as we enjoyed our dinners and Maya heated us away from the fire ring with a roaring fire.
With Sunday morning came the end of the fun and we all packed up and started making our way out. We decided to take Deep Creek back so to see the last of the waterfalls in the area. Overall it was an amazingly positive experience and an absolutely wonderful time in a new area. It was great getting to spend some last quality time with Maya. We all love you, Maya, and wish you the best in your move to New York.
-Lyttle Bryan
- Backpacking , Hiking
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